For a long time afterward, Wanxian Island—and indeed the entire Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals—was draped in an oppressive gloom.
Every cultivator seen on the streets looked like a walking ghost, their spirits crushed.
Li Fan even heard that many, driven to despair after losing every scrap of their family fortunes, chose to end their own lives. At regular intervals, the flares of parting souls could be seen bursting into light across the sky above.
Then there were the gamblers who had taken on leverage for one desperate bid. When Spirit Mist Grass crashed, they were saddled with catastrophic debts—sums so colossal that a lifetime of labor would never clear them.
To evade their creditors, some chose violent defiance. Others simply defected, severing ties with the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals to throw their lot in with the Five Elders Association.
Presumably because so many cultivators had deserted, the Martial Practice Hall found itself desperately short of hands. In a rare move, the Heavenly Profound Mirror issued a flurry of merit pursuit missions, with no restriction on how many times they could be accepted.
For a time, wind and clouds surged across the Xuanhuang Realm, throwing the world into turmoil. The sheer scale of the fallout laid bare just how devastating the Spirit Mist Grass crisis had been.
Li Fan followed in the wake of the chaos, completing several hunt missions and raising his clearance level to Yan Eight.
Miraculously, after little more than a month, the storm began to subside entirely on its own.
The grief and misery gradually vanished from the cultivators' faces, replaced once more by their former spirited demeanor. It was as though everyone had simply forgotten the recent Spirit Mist Grass catastrophe, rarely mentioning it in casual conversation anymore.
Even when the subject came up by chance, no one beat their chests in grief. Instead, their words were tinged with banter and self-mocking amusement.
"You only lost fifty thousand contribution points? You dare open your mouth with that?"
"Heh, look at the rest of us—who here didn't lose eighty or a hundred thousand?"
Such exchanges could be heard everywhere. Little by little, the collective memory of the Spirit Mist Grass crisis faded from the minds of the cultivators, reduced at last to nothing more than a passing sigh: *Contribution points really are hard to earn.*
Yet Li Fan's memory showed no sign of fading.
For one thing, he had been purely a beneficiary in this upheaval, bearing none of the painful, harrowing trauma of loss. For another, the astronomical sum of six hundred and fifty thousand contribution points resting in his possession served as a constant reminder.
*Looks like I won't have to worry about contribution points for quite a long time,* Li Fan thought, sending another message to He Zhenghao.
Earlier, Li Fan had paid He Zhenghao a visit. In this lifetime, his losses seemed even more devastating than in the twelfth. The man had looked completely shattered, his eyes vacant and dazed, answering only out of pure reflex whenever called upon.
Only recently, soothed under the influence of the Longevity Heavenly Venerable, had he begun to slowly recover.
He regretted his choices to the core, cursing himself for ignoring Li Fan's earlier warnings. And upon learning that Li Fan had managed to walk away completely unscathed before the bubble burst, his envy knew no bounds.
"Ah, Daoist Li Fan, if only I had listened to your advice back then..."
Li Fan had lost count of how many times he had heard He Zhenghao lament those exact words.
"If you ask me, investing requires a certain knack. You're clearly not cut out for it, Daoist He. Take my advice: from now on, stick to doing missions and saving contribution points the honest way!"
"At least you're in one piece, and your cultivation is still intact. Worst case, you just start over from scratch!" Li Fan said earnestly.
"Yes, yes, quite right, Daoist Li," He Zhenghao agreed, nodding like a pecking chick before asking tentatively, "Might I ask how much you earned this time?"
"Heh, a lot. An awful lot," Li Fan replied cheerily.
He Zhenghao's face flushed with envy, and he hesitated, words catching in his throat. Seeing him open and close his mouth repeatedly, Li Fan could tell the man wanted to borrow money but couldn't bring himself to discard what little pride he had left. The plea simply refused to pass his lips.
Li Fan was in no hurry to call him out, deciding instead to let him stew a little longer.
After all, reckless speculation had wiped out a lifetime of savings for more than just one island overseer in the Congyun Sea.
Putting away the Myriad-Character Communication Talisman, Li Fan turned his attention toward Zhou Qing'ang on Tai'an Island.
Zhou Qing'ang's face was dark with irritation, his brow furrowed deep. He paced back and forth, evidently yearning to do something yet unable to make up his mind.
Suddenly, his expression shifted. Pulling out a talisman, he snarled with venom, "Nag, nag, nag! It's just fifty thousand contribution points! I'm an island overseer—do you think I'd short you? Rest assured, I will pay it back by the end of the month!"
Tucking the talisman away, Zhou Qing'ang wore a grim, sullen scowl. Having finally reached a decision, he activated a Form-Concealing Talisman and flew out through Tai'an Island's Island-Protecting Grand Formation.
Arriving over an empty, desolate stretch of open sea, he hovered in midair for a brief moment, and his aura underwent an abrupt shift.
Not only that, but through his Heaven-and-Earth perspective, Li Fan watched as Zhou Qing'ang's build and facial features transformed completely in the span of a breath. This was no superficial glamour or illusion; he had genuinely become an entirely different person.
Where Zhou Qing'ang had once appeared as a gentle, scholarly young man, he was now an emaciated, utterly unremarkable middle-aged figure.
Having altered his appearance completely, Zhou Qing'ang continued to fly discreetly toward a certain heading.
*Showing your true colors at last, are you?* A sharp glint flashed in Li Fan's eyes.
He purchased an image-recording stone from the Heavenly Profound Mirror and clutched it in his hand. At the same time, he shifted his surveillance angle slightly and began recording the scene with his divine sense.
After flying for an entire day, night fell.
Zhou Qing'ang arrived at an isolated, uninhabited islet. It was utterly barren, devoid of even a single tree; as far as the eye could see, there was nothing but scattered rubble covering the ground.
Zhou Qing'ang touched down on the island and surveyed his surroundings. Only after observing with great care for a long time and confirming that no one was tailing him did he begin searching through the rubble.
After a lengthy search, he seemed to find his target. A look of delight crossed his face as he picked up a stone.
It was an entirely ordinary rock, bearing no special symbols or markings. It was merely pitted with a few small holes in very specific positions.
Zhou Qing'ang studied the stone for a long time, committing the exact positions of those holes to memory. Then, exerting his strength, he crushed the stone to powder.
Leaping into the air, he flew toward the island's northwest.
Another half a day passed. In an empty expanse of sea, Zhou Qing'ang came to a sudden halt, then plunged straight into the waters.
Beneath the waves lay a submerged ruin. Zhou Qing'ang searched through the rubble for a long time before finally stopping before an inconspicuous broken stone.
An earthy yellow glow gathered on his hands as he pressed both palms against the fractured stone.
The palm prints matched.
A beam of light surged from the broken stone, sweeping over Zhou Qing'ang from head to toe before returning to the stone.
On the stone's smooth, mirror-like surface, the image of a human face suddenly surfaced.
"Hm? Why contact us so far ahead of schedule? Shouldn't there still be six years left?"
The face's exact features were indistinct. It appraised Zhou Qing'ang, full of confusion.
Zhou Qing'ang hesitated, stammering awkwardly, "Boss... the funds ran out. Could you allocate a bit more to me?"
The face froze for a moment. "It's only been this long, and you've already burned through it?"
Then, as if remembering something, the voice turned sharp and furious. "You fool! Did you go gamble on Spirit Mist Grass too?!"
Chapter 193